Happy Pioneer Day

Who gets up at 4:30 am on a holiday to run a race?...Take a guess!

Emily put on her best cheering face...even if it was at the crack of dawn ;)
Matt, Thomas and Jac ran in the Deseret News 10k

Thomas came in taking 1st in his division
(don't look at the pictures too closely, I forgot to put it on action!)

 

Not far behind was Jacqueline...taking 2nd in her division and 7th woman overall! 

 

Last but not least, came Matt...taking 3rd in his division!

 

It was a great day for the Heaps Family! 

We went to the Tracy Aviary after...very nice place :)

Emily was the star of the bird show!

 

Life is GOOD!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Matt has a way of living life to it's fullest...
When he makes a goal, he achieves it!
One of the many goals he has and is still, achieving is being the best husband and father he possibly can be. This may sound silly but he takes his goals seriously...He really does put this as one of his highest priorities in life, next to following our Savior (as Emily wrote in her sweet note, She told him she was ok being second to the Lord!)
 

 

Even though Thomas may be taller, he will always look up to his Dad!

 

Happy Birthday to the best husband and father we could EVER ask for!

Island Lake

How can you pack 3 days worth of food clothes, and sleeping gear into 5 backpacks?

EASY...with skilled Boy Scouts!

Our destination: Island Lake in the High Uintahs

Taking a break at Long Lake
Just in case your wondering, the signs are FALSE!! The mileage said 3 miles to Island Lake-it was actually 4 1/2 miles (BIG difference when your backpacking!)

Our campsite was AWESOME! It had stone chairs and a stone kitchen...
We were living in the high life!

Sister bonding:)

 

The first night we had our dinner on top of a cliff overlooking the lake. We ate some "delicious" dehydrated veggies with ramen noodles. It was good for the first meal anyway!
Lesson #1: Don't add too many veggies...your stomach won't know what to do with them!

 

It was GORGEOUS!

 

Running trails was a MUST!

 

 

 

 

 

Jac had her highest mileage week and didn't let the high altitude and trails stop her! 

 

 

AMAZING! 

PRETTY SWEET!!!! 

For some reason the kids were tired after running so much, so Emily kept herself entertained by building a stick house

Lesson #2: Mosquito nets can be very entertaining :) 

  We felt like we were on top of the world!

All this hiking made us thirsty...

We tried out a new water cleaning technique. We used an ultra violet light stick which worked perfectly...it just took way too many batteries! No worries, we had a plan B...boiling water. After we ran out of propane fluid for our little stove we were on big time rations! If you know me, that's not a good thing!

While sitting around the campfire, we realized we could try to boil the water over the fire! Plan C worked...other than tasting like fire, we were in business! 

This is what you look like when...

 Lesson #3 Crazy pictures are always a must!

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Lesson #4: Hydrating our breakfast with cold water doesn't work so well...we were glad to be headed down the mountain!

Our van never looked so good! 

Lesson #5: Hamburgers, fries and ice-cream taste AMAZING at this place :)

YES, WE ATE IT ALL!! Much to Emily's amazement! :)

We know it was a successful trip because Emily told us she loves us more than Leo!!! 

Now that's SUCCESS!

Goodbye Big Island Lake....Thanks for the memories :)